Eddie Van Halen – Edward Lodewijk Van Halen is one of the most popular guitarists. On October 6, 2020, this great guitarist left the building and left behind a planet that cannot be changed by his own time. As a lead guitarist of hard rockers, Van Halen rewrote the rule book that was about how guitars are played, how they sound, what they look like, and how they are made.
With all his talent and skills of playing the guitar, many of his solos featured unprecedented speed and whammy bar gymnastics, and pioneered the use of two-handed tapping that made him a brilliant guitarist and a songwriter. If any of you want to know what it sounded like to be a teenager in suburban America late in the 1980s, it sounded like Van Halen songs.
With Van Halen’s popularity in the MTV era, his music videos embodied their four rings circus personality and party till the roof caves in ethos. With all this, Eddie Van Halen became a cultural icon who created his presence with his music and guitar and made everything awesome. His personal life was also very interesting.
His cool personality made him mark his presence, he had a hot wife and with his enjoyment in his music, he made sure that the audience too gets completely indulged in it. There will never be another guitarist than him, here we have a list of how Eddie Van Halen blew up your television
10 Times Eddie Van Halen Blew Up Your Television
10. ‘Better Off Dead’
“Better Off Dead” was not a hit though but this old teen comedy had a second life during the heyday of VHS rentals. In a segment sure to be imitated in a future season of Stranger Things, a young John Cusack creates a hamburger Frankenstein that also plays guitar, which looks suspiciously like one of Mr. Van Halen’s customized creations. What does he play along to? Van Halen’s “Everybody Wants Some.”
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9. ‘Two and A Half Men’
In 2009, Eddie made a cameo on this long running sit-com. Not only did he blow up the television, he blew up the bathroom, warning a pre-departure Charlie Sheen “You might want to give it a minute,” before dropping some quick shreds.
8. ‘Late Night with David Letterman’
From 1982 to 1993, David Letterman hosted Late Night on NBC, and provided a hip young alternative to the “Tonight Show” that starred Johnny Carson. With this many musicians wanted to get united with Paul Shaffer and the World’s Most Dangerous Band, including the greatest guitarist in the Western Hemisphere (and probably the Eastern, too).
7. ‘Saturday Night Live’
When his then wife Valerie Bertinelli hosted Saturday Night Life in 1987, “Eddie was bored,” according to then musical director G.E. Smith. After finding the band room, the two guitarists put together an instrumental jam featuring Mr. Bertinelli’s pyrotechnics and melted many faces. Just as good was the “Dinner at the Van Halen’s” skit, which imagined roadies helping facilitate a dinner party at the rocker’s home.
6. “Right Now”
The music video of “Right Now” was the biggest hit of all the times and begged three MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year. though fans still debate the merits of “Van Hagar” as it was the period with lead singer Sammy Hagar is known, this video was a big hit in the year 1992. “Right Now” is Ed’s another brilliant guitar solo and all the text messages of its success were flashing on Ed’s phone screen.
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5. ‘Back To The Future’
What does Marty McFly use to scare his father into romantically pursuing his mother in this 1985 blockbuster? Why the futuristic guitar sounds of “Edward Van Halen” loaded into a portable cassette player of course. Later on, McFly stuns a ’50s high school dance with a guitar solo featuring two-handed tapping and speedy licks reminiscent of the master himself. “Back to The Future” is all about this and was a big hit.
4. Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Music Video
Wait, Michael Jackson? What does this have to do with Eddie Van Halen? Well, there’s a connection and so we are mentioning it here. Eddie Van Halen not only contributed the guitar solo in this particular song with the cinematic video but also helped Michael Jackson break and conquer all pop charts. Even at the recording of this, the studio monitors and the producers caught all the attention. It was such a huge hit of all time!
3. “Panama” at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards
There’s been a lot of chatter over the past couple years about how rock is dead. Tell it to Taylor Swift, who gleefully introduced the reconstituted VH at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards. Tell it to J-Lo, who was shaking it to the boys from Pasadena. Sometimes you gotta let the old guys show everybody how it’s done.
2. “Hot For Teacher Music” Music Video
This music video had a great importance and entertainment value. The concept of the video would have loved to be a fly on the wall and was truly an amazing and a unique one. Though the concept of little kids playing the band members was copied many times and helped make the band a household name. No doubt that the video holds viewers eyes with the teacher ripping off her dress and starts dancing on a table in the lunch room surrounded by kids.this has helped make the band’s household name.
1. “Eruption” / “You Really Got Me” Music Video
This was the piece of music where it all began. Perhaps the most solo piece of all time “Eruption” made everyone attracted and shifted focus that a new guitar god had arrived and the band’s rampaging cover of The Kinks’ classic signaled that not only were the ‘60s dead, the ‘70s were almost over, too. Guitar playing, guitars, rock n’ roll would never be the same.
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With the roots of the early 70’s boogie rock and proto-metal, the creations of Van Halen were not so traditional. Eddie’s guitar work could even make most bluesy riffs sound like a rocket ship blasting into the stratosphere. It was so powerful and energetic. That was the era of dungarees and bellbottoms. Then came zebra prints, neon colors and zig-zag racing stripes just like the ones Eddie used to paint across his guitars. Anything that he painted was in the trend and became the fashion.